Maximum Ride: Electric Girl
by SignedSealedWritten
Summary: This story takes place right when the Flock breaks into the Institute and steals the mutants: but from there on, it is totally different. They find a girl, younger than Angel... you'll see! It's my first fan fic, Read and Review, please! T for safety.
1. Chapter 1

a/n: This, my friends, is my first ever Fan Fiction! Woot! Read and review, please!

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. I /do/ own Lai, though. I also own my notebooks, my backpack, and my frog. My frog's name is Hula.

Chapter One – Lai's Point of View

"This one here, she's a real special thing." I heard one say, could see his long white coat brushing the floor.

"She used to be, at least. Avian-human. You can see her wings- the left one is the broken one." He continued, seemingly teaching a class. My fists clenched angrily, my left wing in searing pain.

"Sadly, fixing her would be a waste of resources. This course will show you how we retire our failed experiments." He bent down, his eyes full of hatred. What had I ever done to him? Been born, I guessed.

"Come on, small thing." He reached in, grabbing my wing, and my five year old mind tried to stop me from screaming in pain and rage. I failed.

An almost silent alarm went off, and suddenly he let me go, backing away. "They're here." He said. "Our instructions are to let them through." He didn't seem to like the idea. Who could these people be? Something bad, I was sure. Maybe even worse than white coats. I cowered in fear: he'd left my cage open, but I didn't dare run… I was scared, the white coats had left, these new comers couldn't be good.

Six kids entered the room- mangy looking, I observed. Who were they?

"Kids don't belong in cages." I heard a voice say from somewhere near me, and then locks started popping: I liked these kids.


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n: The second chapter. Sorry, it's short, but there is more already written. Read and review, oh, and **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. I do own Lai. I own the clip on earrings that I am afraid to wear because they are painful.**

**Chapter Two**

**Max's Point of View**

Oh god, Oh God. There were kids – kids in cages, kids like us. I just had, had to get them out. There were white coat here, I knew. We had to move fast, fast, fast.

"Come on, baby, out of the cage." I held out my hand to a bird kid, a bird kid like us. She was young, younger than Angel. Her cage was already open and she seemed to be hurt.

The girl shook her head, biting her lip and trying not to cry. I sighed, reached in, and pulled her out. She screamed a pained scream, and I patted her head, looking at the tag on her cage: 293587402lai098234. "It's gonna be okay, Lai." I said soothingly. "We're blowing this joint."

"Literally." Iggy said from somewhere around me, popping locks. Okay, so he was blind, and breaking into things with nothing more than a bobby pin. Got a problem with that? Take it up with your counselor.

I scooped the little girl into my arms, just as she let out a confused, "What? What did you call me?" I quickly explained about the naming process, and she closed her eyes, leaning her head against me. Thank God I had the gift of comforting hybrid mutants. I met Fang's eyes, and he nodded, quick and silent.

"Move, Move, Move!" I shouted, followed with an "Up and away!" from Fang. He tapped Iggy's hand twice, and Angel, Nudge, Gasman, Iggy, Fang, and I unfurled our wings, rushing out the door.

In no time at all, we were out, all six- no, seven- of us, flying, up and away, into the sky.

**Fang's Point of View**

Two days. Lai slept for two whole days, her wings out to her side in an odd position. She was hurt, badly, and I knew that Max was already thinking of ways to fix her. She was young, younger than Angel.

The Flock watched her the entire time.

It wasn't a question, whether she would stay with us. She was already a part of us.

**Angel's Point of View**

"Max?" I asked. I was sitting next to her, next to her and Lai. I'd been listening to her thoughts all morning – she was dreaming scary things, they'd done bad things to her, she was young too – younger than me. And while I'd had the Flock, she'd had nobody. She'd been all alone.

"Yes, Angel?" Max answered me, she was distracted. I knew she was mad, mad at those dumb people who'd done this to Lai and to all of the Flock.

"Is Lai going to be okay? She's hurt bad, isn't she?" I stared at Lai, then at Max with pleading eyes.

"Of course, she'll be fine. She's in the care of the Flock, right?" Max sighed, rubbing her forehead with the palm of her hand. "She's hurt, but I'm going to fix her when she wakes up."

"why not now, Max?" I asked confused. Of course, I could have just read her mind, but I didn't like Max to think that I was being mean to her by doing that. I loved Max.

"Well, I wouldn't do anything to you without telling you first, would I?"

"Oh." I said, listening to her mind finally. "It's going to hurt." I didn't like the idea.

"Maybe." Max said, returning my gaze.

All of a sudden, I heard a groan.


	3. Chapter 3

**a/n: Welcome to another chapter of Maximum Ride: Electric Girl. This one, I think, is a little bit longer than the last two – oh, and to my reviewers, you made me feel really special, and don't worry, there will be more, because it is already written in a notebook – I just have to type it and stuff. But I would really like some reviews before I post another chapter…. But don't worry, I'll keep posting either way. But you'll be very appreciated if you review. Good or bad, doesn't matter. Just to know that someone out there is reading it, makes all the carpal tunnel worth while.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. I do own Lai. I do, however, own my backpack that is killing my back. **

**Chapter Three –**

**Lai's Point of View**

The first thing that I noticed was that I wasn't in a cage, but that the forest floor wasn't too much more comfortable. My wing felt like it was about to fall off, and I remembered being carried by someone who had big dark wings.

The second thing that I noticed was that I wasn't alone. Six pairs of eyes stared at me, six children… the same ones who I'd seen before.

"Good morning, Lai." She was the one who had taken me from the cage.

"Morning?" I asked, groggily.

"You've been asleep for two days." Said a boy with light, fuzzy blonde hair.

The dark wing one pointed to himself. "Fang." He said. Then he pointed to each of them. "Max, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel."

"Are you Max?" I asked the one sitting next to me. She seemed to be the leader.

"The One and only," She said, smiling a little. "Are you okay?"

I shook my head, trying not to cry. "My wing hurts. You're not going to kill me, are you?"

The one called Nudge gasped, and Angel looked at Max. Something seemed to pass between them.

"I'm going to kill _them_, not you." Max said, anger on her face and in her voice. "We saved you just in time, didn't we?"

I nodded. "They were going to retire me because I was broken."

"Well, don't worry, sweetie. I'm not going to hurt you, not ever. But I am going to retire those white coats." She stood up suddenly, snapping open her brown and white flecked wings. I gasped in amazement. I'd never seen anybody else's wings, not open and awesome like that.

"You're leaving, Max?" Angel asked, looking at their leader sadly.

"Aw, come on, Max. Don't leave us now, not again." Gasman said, disappointment on his face.

"Not now, Max." Fang said. I figured that he didn't talk a lot.

"Fang, you know I have to."

"Not now." He repeated, and the two stared each other down. Finally, with a snort of anger, Max sank to the ground, crossing her arms. I figured she was a sore loser.

"_You'd be right." _I heard a voice, a little girl voice, in my head, and I looked around, my eyes finally settling on Angel.

"_Did you just…" _ I asked her in my head.

"_Read your mind?" _She finished for me. _"Yea. A lot of us can do special things like that. What can you do?"_

"_Don't know." _I answered back, feeling choked. Even now, when I was with people who were almost just like me, I was unequal, unworthy of being with them. Would it always be this way?

Max spoke then, not looking at Fang, settling her eyes on the one called Nudge instead. "Can you guys, like, get off my back for a few minutes?"

Fang nodded, and started to herd the others towards the forest, and Angel tried to help me get up.

"Not you, Lai. You stay here."

My heart caught in my throat.


	4. Chapter 4

**a/n****: Hey! Sorry it took me awhile to update, but this is the next chapter of Maximum Ride: Electric Girl. I'm pretty sure that this chapter is longer than the others. It is written up to chapter eight or so, or even nine, I think, but in a notebook, so I just need to type and upload it. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. I **_**do**_** own Lai. I also own the socks that I'm not wearing even though it is freezing cold out. I also don't own ****Quiznos****. Though if I did, I would eat all of the deli tuna sandwiches that I could.**

**Max's Point of View**

This, my friends, is just what I need. Five mutants to take care of, two of them under seven.

Won-der-ful.

A hand brushed my shoulder, and I spun, but it was only Fang.

"What?" I asked him, sighing in exasperation. He'd won before. I'm a sore loser.

"Angel explained." He said, his huge dark wings were slightly relaxed against his sides, and I took a moment to admire them. "Need me to stay?"

I shook my head, looking towards Lai. She was small, only five, but she could still probably throw a few good punches. Not that I would ever admit to needing help.

"You sure?"

"Positive." I confirmed. He went, silently as ever, back to the others.

"Lai?" I asked. She was sittin up now, and I noticed how much she reminded me of Angel. She had the same golden curls, only longer, down to her waist. One chunk was dyed a dazzling electric blue. Her wingspan had to be around six or seven feet wide. It was Angel's white coat, with gold and blue – the same electric blue as her hair and eyes – flecks throughout them. The very tips were a smoky black, like a toasted Quiznos sub.

She looked at me with panicked, frightened, awed, but oddly trusting eyes. My heart leapt, I loved her already.

"Yea, Max?" I could almost see the thoughts running through her head, rushing past her electric blue eyes. Angel had told me about her, from what she'd 'heard' – Lai had never been outside a cage, except when she was experimented on. Even then, she'd never been outside of the Institute. All she knew about anything had come from what experiments had told her. She'd never felt grass. Never seen the sky. And now, I didn't know if she would ever be able to fly again.

"Can you show me your hurt wing?" I asked, holding out my hand for it.

She looked at me with a pained expression. I didn't blame her. Nobody outside of the Flock had ever touched our wings, and she didn't know us that well yet.

"I won't do anything without telling you first." I promised, smiling a little.

"Promise?" she whispered, starting to unfold her wing, extending it towards me.

"Promise." And she placed her wing in my hand.


	5. Chapter 5

**a/n: Another chapter already written, just being typed…. Reviews, please!**

**Disclaimer: Gosh, don't you understand that I'm not James Patterson and don't own Maximum Ride? All I own is Lai. My family told me that she was a potato chip. **

**Max's Point of View**

I slowly ran my hand down her wing, fingertips barely touching the feathers. If I was to set it, I would have to find out where the break was. I felt her wince beneath them and I cursed myself for having clumsy fingertips.

"Ig." I whispered softly, so that I didn't startle Lai, knowing that his sensitive ears would catch the barely breathed words.

He was soon by my side, he'd found me by the sound of my voice. Iggy's strawberry blonde hair was in spiky disarray, his sightless blue eyes staring straight ahead.

"Lai, Iggy is going to check your wig, alright? He won't hurt you." That was one thing that I could be almost sure of – his hands were ultra-sensitive, and he would be able to lightly brush her wings without hurting her much, if any at all. She looked at him, at his face, at his _eyes_, and opened her mouth before I could stop him.

"But… he can't _see _it, how could he do better than you?" She glanced at me, confusion on her face. I looked away, met Fang's eyes. There was a smirk on his face. He'd heard her.

Iggy's eyebrows drew together, and he sank down next to us, his hands replacing mine on her wings. "But, I can smell, hear and cook better than you or anybody here. So there." I thought I heard Fang laugh. He ran his hands over her entire wingspan, his hands barely grazing the feathers. Being blind, he depended on touch, so it was highly developed. As was his irony.

He stopped suddenly, his hands pausing over the largest wing bone, the one on the top that connected the wing to the shoulder. She jerked her shoulder back, eyes wide, and Iggy jumped, pulling his hand back and shaking it with apparent pain. "Um, ow?" He said, sucking on a finger. "Shock much?"

Lai tilted her head to the side. "I didn't feel it. But I was kind of focused on my wing."

I was silent, staring, dumb founded, at Lai.

The blue chunk of her hair had become live as a sparking live-wire. It was cracking; sizzling, shooting blue-yellow sparks in the air. As the wild fear and pain in her eyes faded, so did the sparking, calming until it became just a Kool-Aid streak in her hair.

Iggy – or Lai, either, it seemed – hadn't noticed a thing, for the obvious reason of his _improved night vision. _He'd heard the sizzling, of course – he had looked skyward for a second, tilting his head, thinking it was coming from a phone wire above us. Which, of course, there were none of. But _he_ hadn't known that. That was good, in a way… if he was afraid that he could get electrocuted, he wouldn't have continued with Lai. Then again, he'd always wanted to find out what happened when you stuck your finger in an electrical socket. That's Iggy for you.

"Uh – Max?" he asked. "Lost connection?" I realized that I'd never asked him what his diagnosis was.

"No, sorry. I saw…" time for another lie. "a hawk. Reminded me of those ones who saved our butts."

"Oh. Well, give me your hand." He took it, placed it on top of his on Lai's wing, then pulling his hand out so mine rested on it. "Feel that, right there?" I did… lightly. It was abnormal, a ridge, a break that hadn't healed right.

"Kind of. It's an old break, but it didn't heal right. It wasn't a clean break, was it?" Lai stiffened, and I murmured a few soothing words.

"Unfortunately not." Iggy said.

I knew what that meant – when she grew, it wasn't going to grow right at all. I'd probably have to rebreak it. Either way, it would make setting the wing more difficult.

I picked Lai up. She was amazingly light, as we all were. I placed her in my lap. She knew – I could tell by the look on her face, by the tears running down her cheeks. I brushed all the curls over one shoulder, careful not to touch the freaky blue part. It freaked me out, to be truthful.

"How'd this happen?" I asked, placing a hand under her chin. She shook her head, and I saw the blue part sizzle. "You don't have to tell me." I amended quickly, and I heard a little girl voice in my head. Angel.

_"Someone stepped on it for fun, when she was four. A white coat, a new one. They watched to see how it would heal, but it didn't go so well. That's where we came in. Is she going to be okay, Max?"_

_Thanks baby. She'll be fine – just stay out of our heads for a bit, okay?_ I thought to her.

_Okay, Max._ She seemed to get the gist.

"Do you want me to hold her? I mean, you can't…" I tapped Iggy's hand three times; code for shut the heck up. How did I plan to do this? Come on, I'm Maximum Ride!

I was going to wing it, of course.

Pun intended. Didn't you find it punny? Oh, never mind!

I looked to Lai, and she shook her head.

"I want to sit with Fang."

Well, that was unexpected.


	6. Chapter 6

**a/n: All of those who reviewed, I love you to pieces! It's really amazing that you guys do this for me, take the time to review. Therefore, I take the time to type! Happy Valentine's Day…..**

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Maximum Ride. I do own Lai, and my sweatshirt that I'm wearing… it's keepin' me warm.**

**Max's POV**

My fingers fumbled over Lai's wing, trying to figure out the best way to set it. I didn't want to rebreak the wing and cause her even more pain, but it looked like it was coming to that. She whimpered and squirmed, and Fang steadied her. He was doing pretty well – being sympathetic while still maintaining his Fang-dom, Fang-hood, Fang-ness.. whatever you may call it.

I was proud of him.

**Max,** said the Voice, and I groaned. **There are more important matters than one little girl…**

**Well,**_I said, grimacing. **When you figure out what that is, why don't you let me know?**_

Fittingly, the Voice didn't answer.

I knew what I had to do, though – the wing was hurt, badly, healed but not healed, and there was no way that it would ever heal right on its own. I was going to have to rebreak it, as much as the fact sickened me. I was mad at those white coats – if they had just _fixed _her, like normal humans would do with a toddler's broken leg, then it wouldn't have half-healed like that.

Fang knew too – I could see it from the rare anger on his face. He hated those white coats just as much as I did.

I wanted so badly to not have to explain to Lai, to just get it over with, but I had made her a promise.

Fang looked at me, as if to say _you or me? _Lai's face was still buried in his black t-shirt. Then, he did something so unexpected that I thought he was possessed.

He held her back from him, looked into her _shocking_ blue eyes, and then, fang, yes, fang, began to talk.

"Lai." He started in a calm voice. "Max is going to fix your wing now. Hold on to me, okay?" A lump formed in my throat and my heart leapt in my chest.

"I'm scared." She whispered into his shirt.

"I know." There was subdued emotion in his voice, he was being freakily un-Fang like, but I liked it in a way. He gave a slight nod, and held her securely in his strong grasp. I could hear a muffled "I don't wanna" coming from Lai, and I rubbed the spot in between her wings briefly before moving to her wing. I felt the badly healed spot with one finger before putting two pairs of thumb and forefinger on each side of the spot, and bent with all my might.

**Fang's POV**

I'll spare you the details – but, let's say Lai has… teeth…and nails.. and little but powerful fists. Um, ow? Oh, and when bones break, they make a sound like "shacrack".

"Max!" She'd screamed in agony. She was gasping for breath. "Fang, get her off of me! She hurt me, really bad!" Well, wasn't this awkward. Instead, I held her tighter to me, restraining her as she screamed. I believe that was where "tooth and nail" came in. The fists came when Max moved the two bones together to fuse properly. I think that's also when I almost got electrocuted. Well, if that was her ability, it could sure as hell be annoying. I decided to remind max to stock up on wood and first aid kits.

After putting a splint thing on Lai's wings to hold the bones in place, Max signaled for me to let her go. The five year old stomped off, clutching her wing, shouting back tearfully, "I hate you!"

Max collapsed, sobbing – something she'd only done once or twice, and only when she'd thought she was alone, or if only I was around. I placed a hand awkwardly on her back, stroking her hair. "Uh, guys?" Ig's voice came from the forest. We'd sent him back to the rest of the Flock. "They're gone!"

**Nudge's POV**

"Gazzy…Angel?" I took a deep breath, regretting it immediately, because the putrid smell told me where I was.

The School.

No Max, No Fang. No Ig… No Lai.

We were alone. Completely, and almost instantly, I knew what I had to do.

I had to become Max.

Taking a few deep breaths, pushing against the bars of the cage, I said something Max-ish. "Gasser, Angel, report." The sentence sounded too short, too choppy. I wanted to add more, something like, "are you hungry, are you hurt, we're gonna get out of here soon" but I knew Max would tell me to sush. So I did.

"Max?" Gasser called out. "Is that you?"

"No, Gazzy, it's Nudge." I hated myself for doing something completely un Max-ish – crying silently.

"Oh." And then, laughter, hysterical laughter, Angel soon joining him.

"What?!" I asked, annoyed. "It wasn't funny! Where do you get off laughing at me? There is nothing funny about the situation that we're in. It is completely and utterly un-funny!"

"That's better." Angel said. "More Nudge-ish."

"Yea, Nudge." Gasman said between gasps of laughter. "Max speak doesn't fit you."

At that, I had to laugh too.

'Cause he was right.


	7. Chapter 7

**a/n: And, we're moving along faster than ever, people!**

**Disclaimer: I really don't own maximum ride. I own Lai. I own a hardcover copy of TAE.**

**Nudge' POV**

The laughter stopped as soon as Gasman started to cry. Peering through the bars of the cage, into his cage to the left of me, I could see the tears running down his face. It made me sad and mad thinking of those white coats… I had a few suggestions for Max about evil punishments we could try on them. For when she rescued us. Which, she would of course. Hopefully before the experiments began. Even though angel and Gazzy had laughed at me, I was still kind of the unelected leader. 'Cause I was the oldest. And 'cause Fang had put me in charge until he got back. Which he wasn't, so I was.

"Gazzy?" I asked. "What's wrong? Are you hurt? Do you need help? Just because Max and Fang and Iggy aren't here doesn't mean that we wont get out…. Fang put me in charge until he got back, so that means he is planning to come back, okay?" I knew it meant nothing, but I was happy when he smiled through the tears and hiccups. It faded quickly though.

"I'm okay, I guess. My head hurts and all, but they haven't done tests or anything yet, so I guess that's good. I just miss 'em."

"It's okay, Gasser." Angel said. She had the smallest of our three cages, and I didn't see how she could even move. "They'll be here soon."

"Nudge?" Gazzy asked me. "Do you really think they'll come for us?"

"Of course, Gazzy. I mean, Max and Fang wouldn't just leave us alone, they would never do that. They'll probably be here in ten minutes of something. In fact, I'll bet that they're on their way." I sighed, hoping that they wouldn't see through my own insecurities on whether Max and Fang would come back for them.

"White coats." Angel breathed, and I closed my eyes for a second, then opened them, readying myself. I was going to have to be the tough one this time.

"Plan?" Gazzy asked, and I tried to think of Max-ish things to do. Finally, I came up with what would probably be a dumb idea later on, but it would work well enough now. "Annoy the heck out of 'em. If they try to take us out, escape." It was one of the shortest sentences that I had ever said in my life, but I could hear the footsteps of white coats coming through the doors. The door creaked, then opened, and a white coat with a long white coat – no duh – entered the room. She held a clipboard in her hand, and she was pushing a cart that I didn't dare look at. I really, really, didn't want to know what torture was on it.

"I see that you're awake."

None of us answered, just glared at her with angry eyes. I wished with all my heart that Max or Iggy was here, to come up with some sarcastic comment.

"_Nudge…" _Angel's voice sounded in my head, and I concentrated on staring at the white coat to make sure that I didn't give anything away. It was all that we needed for them to find out that she could read and control minds, that would be absolute disaster.

"_Yeah, did you hear anything? Besides the normal elevator music that usually goes on in their heads everyday? I bet they're not even real doctors or scientists or anything, just people who got out of high school and were sad that they couldn't get into Harvard or something and then…." _Angel broke into my thoughts then, I though I heard her sigh, but I couldn't be sure.

"_They're planning to do bad things to us. I don't want them too. You won't let them, right?"_

"_Never, I promise. What bad things are they planning this time? I mean, besides world domination and killing everyone in the world plans, etc, etc, etc?"_

This time, I was sure that I heard Angel gulp. _"They want to take us apart. Not only physically, but you know, the Flock. Forever."_

And for once in my life, I didn't have a response.

The white coat looked at me first, coming over and bending down to peer into my cage. I growled at her, stared at her with angry and evil eyes. "I need a blood sample, please hold out your arm." She said, holding out her own hand for mine.

I grinned. Did they really think it was going to be that easy? "Bite me." I replied. "And while your at it, you think you could let us out of these cages? 'Cause I'm sure that they aren't legal. I'm gonna get lawyers."

I heard Angel giggle. The white coat looked mad and opened the door to my cage. I didn't have the chance to make a dash for it before she grabbed my arm and jabbed the needle into it. I tried really hard not to cry but it hurt alot. She drew alot of blood and my head started to feel dizzy. They hadnt given us something to eat or drink all day. Angel had thought that they might do that. They'd done that last time to her.

"Thank you." She said. Where in the world did she get off saying that?

"Go fall in a whole." I replied. "And then, when you're in the bottem, I'll cover it."

"You're not in a position to argue."

"Oh, really? I really do think that I am. Gazzy here - he has x-ray vision, and his nickname is Captain Terror. You can imagine why for yourself. Angel has telekenisis." I was on a roll, could see the terror on her face. Even if i was only lying, she didn't know that. Not yet anyway. "Iggy can make things go boom." Which he could, of course. He was an excellent pyro-maniac too. "Fang is our wrestling champion." He was very strong. "And Max - well, when she gets here, she'll show you herself. Trust me, lady - when the Flock finally hits you, you won't be around long enough to know what hit you."

She finally got her compsure back. "And you? You're jsut a weakling who can't do anything." I heard Angel and Gazzy rise slightly in thier cages, on either side of me,k which was really hard to do in a cage. Try it sometime, you'll see what I mean.

"Me? I can fly. Ain't that enough for you?" Smiling an evil grin, I said, "I'm your worst nightmare." I saw her gulp.

**Max's Point of View**

"Nudge! Gazzy! Angel? Angel!" I screamed, running through the forest, Fang and Iggy flanking either side of me. Lai was in Iggy's arms. She hadn't allowed Fang or I to carry her. This was so, totally, my fault. But wasn't it always?

"They can't just be gone!" I shouted angrily. "How come we didn't notice?"

**I warned you, Max. I tried to tell you that there were more important things.**

_No, Voice. _I thought angrily. _You sent me a cryptic message!_

"Calm down, Max." Fang said, his voice calm. That really got on my nerves.

"No! You're kidding me, right? The rest of the Flock is gone, and you've got the nerves to tell me to calm down?"

"No, Max, if we need to find them then we can't have you mad out of your mind."

I knew he was right, and thats what made me mad even more.

And through the madness, I could feel something coming back, all of a sudden. I was going to be able to track them! I took a deep breath, felt the scent in the wind, and lept into the air. I could hear Iggy and fang leap up behind me.

"Death Valley, California." I whispered. "Don't worry guys - we're coming."


	8. Chapter 8

**a/n: Happy Presidents week if you live in America. :) Read and review please! Although obviously, if you are here, then you are going to read it. I hope. **

**Shout Outs to: james maddison and his friend (by the way, you can do the story, just give me credit if you are going to post it) aviator301 (what you said was correct, by the way) Livylooloo (thanks for reviewing so much!) PolkaDotFeathers (thanks so much for being an awesome reviewer!) alamodie (you made me feel special, as you all did) and **KiKi144327** (of course I'll keep it up!) and of course, last but not least, Agni xx. (Thanks so much for the following: giving me virtual cookies, watching ****YouTube**** videos at the same time, accepting random messages that make no sense to nobody but us, and, oh, if you don't update your story or write something of something, there will be some serious Jacob Black gut throwing involved. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. Oh, and because of what I said above, I don't own Jacob Black either. And have no desire too.**

**Angel's POV**

I really, really, wanted Max back. It wasn't that Nudge wasn't doing a good job, because, in her own way, she was. But it wasn't the same without her, and I wasn't sure how much longer any of us could last.

I looked at Nudge. She hadn't talked in awhile, and that worried me. I wanted really badly to hear her talk, because somehow, it meant that we were going to get out of here okay.

The white coats had left after Nudge's temper tantrum, but now, I could hear thoughts coming from them again. They were coming back, and soon. They still wanted to do all of those bad things to us, and I wanted Max to be here to protect me. But I was really glad that she, Fang, Iggy and Lai were free somewhere.

I told Nudge and Gasman about the white coats in their minds. I knew that they thought it was creepy, but really, they were all jealous of it.

A white coat came in. She had long, dark black hair with a pink stripe down the side and she was short. If we could only get out of the cages we could take her down real easy.

I didn't look at what was in her hand, but sadly, I saw it in my mind. A catheter and a shunt for each of us. I hated those things with a passion. The shunts made taking blood easier for the white coats, but not for us. And the catheters? Who knew what they were going to give us through them? Not food, that was for sure.

She didn't say anything until she bent in front of my cage. She didn't open the door.

"Experiment 11; please hold out your arm for shunt and catheter placement." She sounded like a robot. Shouldn't she know better than to just _ask_ us?

I crawled to the back of my cage and whimpered. She reached in through a little dog door like thing on the side and shoved both into my arm without another word, and I screamed bloody murder. I was going to have no voice tomorrow. Not that it would matter.

"Leave my sister alone!" Gasman screamed, punching the side of his cage with fury. "You dirty, rotten, no good –"

"Gasser!" Nudge said angrily. "Max wouldn't want you using that kind of talk. Therefore, I'll say it. You are dirty, rotten, no good butts!"

The white coat flushed red, but left my cage and went over to Nudge next, shoving the catheter in her arm and the shunt in her wrist. I saw her biting her lip and trying hard not to cry.

She moved to Gasman. He had a different kind of cage then us, a different make; it looked stronger, as if they were afraid that since he was a guy he would be stronger. Dumb sexists. Either way, it had no doggie door thing. She would have to open it to do her evil torture.

I heard a clatter - Gasman was trying to fight her off! Just as she got the shunt in his wrist, I head a massive snap – he'd shot his wings open, struck her across the face, and she flew, struck hard against the tile wall opposite us and crumpled to the floor.

"Gazzy! Gazzy! Gazzy!" Nudge chanted. He burst out of the cage and rose into the air as sirens sounded. I heard angry Eraser snarls.

"Nudge, give him your bobby pin!" I shouted.

"Right! Of course! Why didn't I think of that? Ig probably taught him how to pop locks and…

"Just throw it!" Gazzy and I shouted in unison.

"Right! Sorry!" She threw it through the air, and Gasman caught it. He scrambled to my cage first, jamming it in and twisting it. It popped open easily – cheap security – but not effortlessly like when Iggy did something like that.

"Go!" He said, yanking me out, almost throwing me out of my top row cage. I burst open my pure white wings, enjoying the feel of the muscles stretching, pushing up and down to keep myself afloat. By the time I could bat my eyes, Nudge was out too – her tawny wings gliding on air.

"Angel!" Nudge said, sounding _a lot_ max-ish, leader like. "Try to find a building layout in someone's mind, pronto! An escape route, maybe, a secret tunnel…"

I blocked out her voice, focused instead on listening to Erasers, who were coming down the hallways. "Got it!" I said. "Left, right, straight, left, left, right, door on the right!"

"Nice, Angel!" Gasman said.

"Follow me!" I shouted, and we burst through the still open door lab door, flying at full speed, Nudge managing to swipe a laptop on the way out.

"Get in touch with Max!" She explained. We didn't like stealing… but a mutants gotta do what a mutants gotta do.

I think Max would have been proud.


	9. Chapter 9

**a/n****: So, here we are again. To all those wondering how in the world I get this up fast, it ****is**** because I already have it written. I just have to type it. And when I'm slow, it is because it ****wont**** upload or things get lost. :)**

**Disclaimer: Really, I don't own Maximum Ride. I own myself. I am my own person. ****Woot**

**Claimer: I own Lai. ****And a bag of Doritos.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the company of Doritos.**

**Iggy's POV (or point of un-view, if you get what I mean)**

If this girl squirmed one more time, I was going to drop her at our altitude of almost 5,000 feet. One more time of her rolling in my arms, poking my eyes (not that it mattered, but come on! It still hurt) or pulling my hair, and I would lose it. I'd make up an excuse for dropping her later. Do you think "Um, I didn't know that I was going to drop her?" work?

No. Me neither. Therefore, I tried to focus on the fact that we needed to rescue them. Not on the fact that I had forty extra moving pounds in my arms.

Max had us flying to Death Valley, Ca. I really, really didn't want to visit that place again, ever again in my life. I wouldn't have to see it to know that we were there. All I would have to do was breathe in once. It wasn't that I didn't want to rescue the rest of the Flock – I did, of course. I was missing my sidekick. But if it could have been done without our current situation, I would have been one happy blind hybrid mutant, if you get my point.

"Potato chip?" Fang asked me, brushing the bag against my hand.

"Uh, little tied up here." I motioned to where Lai was in my arms.

"Catch." Fang said, and threw it in the air. I caught it in my mouth.

'Cause I'm awesome like that.

"God!" Max said in annoyance. "The two of you make me so mad! You're eating while the rest of them are being tortured."

Okay. I could understand it a little. She'd lost them, especially Angel, who was kind of her baby. I myself had lost my partner in crime.

But the whole "I'm gonna save the world using only my sheer anger and rage" thing had gotten old after the _first_ two hours of flying from upstate NY to Death Valley, CA.

"Can't we stop?" I asked. We were flying over Oklahoma now. Max was flying fast, I could tell by the current coming from her. I coasted on it for a second, resting my wings. "We're making good time, but we can't burst into the School dead on our feet."

"No, Ig, we can't. We'll stop when we get there." Typical Max style. "How's Lai?"

"Max, I swear, if she pokes, rolls over, or pulls my hair one more time…"

Lai rolled, and I was _really_ tempted to drop her. But I didn't. 'Cause I'm just a softie.

I felt a wing brush against my arm – Lai's broken one. She moaned, and, all of a sudden, the air smelled different, tasted funny… metallic, almost. The air around me crackled, sizzled…

"Ig!" max shouted. "Drop her!"

You would think that I would just _do it_, since I've been thinking about it for the past ten minutes… but really, I'd only been kidding. "What? Why!" I shouted into the wind.

"Just do it!" Fang said. I felt a sharp tingle in my arm, and, almost involuntarily, I dropped her.


	10. Chapter 10

**a/n: Hello again! I've gotten a good response to this story so far…. So of course, I'm going to keep writing. Oh, and…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. JP does. I own Lai, and the Diet Dr. Pepper that I am drinking. I also don't own Fang's Blog. Fang does.**

**Fang's Blog**

**Time:**we have _no idea_

**Date:**_you_ tell _us_

**Title: Attention!**

Max, Fang, Iggy! You're probably really worried about us. But it's okay! We're alright! I mean, yeah, the Erasers got us and brought us to the School, and they were really mean to us, but Angel and Gazzy were awesome and we managed to freak out a white coat. Gazzy wants me to get to the point, mainly because it was _his shining moment_, and I don't blame him, cause it was.

Okay! I'm sorry. Here goes – The white coats came in and they had these little tubey thingies that they put in Angel's arm and my arm, and they really hurt, but then, when she got to Gasman (okay, read this part out loud for Iggy) he snapped open his wings, and OMG, he hit her in the face! She totally flew against the wall and passed out! Gazzy flew out of the cage, and I gave him my bobby pin, and he picked the locks. Total credit to Ig for teaching him that.

Angel read Eraser's minds – alarms had started going off and troops of Erasers were coming down the halls – so we would know the escape plan. I thought that we were going to get attacked and captured again, but guess what? Angel could control a lot of their minds – about ¾ of them. It was because they hadn't been warned or taught how to block their minds. Who says adults are smarter than kids? I personally think that we're a lot smarter, don't you? I bet you do. Anyway, Gazzy is about to wallop me for rambling… so I'm gonna continue. I'll give you the full-unabridged Nudge version at a later date, okay?

Angel controlling the Eraser's mind was really, really, really funny! They all sat down and started playing patty-cake and singing! We were totally busting our sides laughing. Angel _is _really creepy.

No I'm not!

Yes, Angel, controlling minds is freaky. Oh! Gazzy says that you're probably wondering where we are and how we got a computer.

Computer: I swiped it on the way out, so guess what? Now we have _two_ computers. It is all shiny and chrome, and it has constant satellite hook-up, just like Fang's computer does. Sorry about the stealing, but _hey_ they stole our childhood, so I think they can miss they're shiny laptop!

Us: Well, I'm not going to tell you. Because a lot of people read this thing, right Fang? And if anybody from Itex (boo! – Love, Gazzy) finds it and reads about where we are, then we're in hot water. But I _will_ tell you where to meet us – in code! I'm sure you guys can figure it out. Read it to Iggy. He might be able too.

We've been there once before,

On a cold dark night,

Huddled against a wall,

Large engines pass by us,

It was really dark,

And this guy freaked out on you,

But Fang freaked him out,

And he ran away,

We slept on a ledge,

For a one dark night,

Just a while ago,

Before we stormed right in.

And took blue haired girl.

We'll see you there.

Posted by: Nudge.

(With some help by Gazzy and Angel!)


	11. Chapter 11

**a/n: Whoa! I got almost eight reviews for the last chapter – I'm at thirty now! Woot!**

**And aviator301, you have creepy perception. Almost right, you were. --- okay, that was a backwards sentence. And Agni, no. I shall not stop until I dominate the world. Oh, you know what I mean. To anyone who doesn't know, I have another fanfic now – Maximum Ride: Stuck**

**Okay, to be truthful, I am writing about six. You see, I actually am finished writing this one – and you are getting scarily close to finishing reading it. But don't fret, faithful readers. There will be a ****sequel****. It will pick up right after this one left off. **

**And then I'm writing another one that centers ****on**** Nudge, I don't know if I will put it up. I probably will.**

**Okay, so that was only about four. But then I'm writing two novels of my own. :) so there.**

**I'm rambling like Nudge today. Okay, if anyone read Maximum Ride: Stuck, my other fanfic, I want to say that I personally love the following line, because I totally wrote it late at night, and I have no idea where it came from. Ter Borcht comes in, and he wants to take Fang for testing – Max is bothering him, and he turns around and says:**

**"Do not test me."**

**And then, Fang totally turns around and says "Funny, I'd say the same to you."**

**It's really sad when you start to laugh at your own fan fictions.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. I do, however, own Lai.**

**Apologies: The really long a/n is totally my fault.**

_**Lai's Point of View**_

I woke up falling.

My hair was straight up, eyes tearing with the wind. I could barely do so, but I looked up. Three Flock members above me were staring down.

The ground was rushing up to meet me. As a reflex, I unfurled my wings, fast. Like with a parachute, I started to float, but not without effort. Due to the adrenaline rush, I didn't feel the searing pain until a second later. It hurt, really bad… and that was when the parachute effect wore off, and I started to fall.

Max tucked in her wings and dive bombed for me as I screamed, rushing towards the ground. She scooped me up into her arms at the last second, and I was crying.

"Shh, baby, it's alright."

"Max, Max, I'm so sorry! I don't hate you – you saved me." I sniffled. "It just really hurt. A lot." I reached out and touched the sore wing. It didn't hurt as bad anymore, and now that I thought about it, if I knew how to fly I probably could have. "That's the second time you saved me. No, the third." I sniffled again, wiping my eyes as she flew me up towards the others.

"It's alright hun. I know you don't hate me. I probably would have killed Fang if he had to do that to me." I couldn't see her killing anyone.

"Dude, what in the world is that smell?" Iggy asked, lifting his nose in my direction.

Fang was looking in my direction, staring at my head calmly. "Lai." He said.

"Hey! You don't smell like a flower patch exactly."

Max was laughing. "No, Lai, check out the blue part of your hair."

I grabbed it in between my fingers – it was warm, tingly. I pulled it in front of my eyes. Oh, wow.

It was sparking. Blue and yellow sparks were shooting out of it. I'd always had the blue part – as long as I could remember, anyway. I knew that they all thought I had dyed it myself – but really, how would I get Kool-Aid at the Institute?

"Max, what's going on with my hair?"

"Her hair?" Iggy asked.

Max looked to Fang, who had the side of his mouth in a tiny grin. But there was also sadness in his eyes – just the tiniest bit, something that I knew Max wouldn't even find. And they knew each other pretty well.

"Looks like you've got a new power, Lai." Max said.

"Um, Fang, you've got ten seconds to tell me what's going on." Iggy said, crossing his arms. We were all halted in the air now, hovering.

"She's got a power." Fang said. "Her hair can electrocute people. Or at least shoot sparks."

"Dude, I'm not carrying her anymore." Iggy said. I felt sad, but I didn't blame him.

"That's okay. Fang will carry me."

He held up his hands. "I like toast, just not me as toast."

"Max?" I asked hopefully.

"Looks like we're going to teach you to fly."

**Max's POV**

"Time?" Fang asked. Did he ever talk full sentences?

"No. But we don't have time to become winged toast, either." I said.

I looked to Lai. She was looking at me with hopeful eyes. "Alright, Lai. Can you stretch out your wings?" She did so, wincing a little as the muscles stretched. They were sore, but she was healed. Fang flew over to help coach. Iggy looked mad that he couldn't do much to help, but I would have to deal with that later. Right now, I needed to teach her as fast as possible and get back to the mission.

Fang looked at me, nodded twice. We were going to teach her the same way we'd taught Nudge, Gasman and Angel. It was cruel, but, _hey_, it was effective.

"Lai – count of three, push your wings up and down." Fang said. Lai nodded, a trusting look in her eyes. The whole _trust fall_ thing that they had going on between them was beyond me – and it was about to get a little more _trust fally_ around here in a few seconds.

"One." Fang said.

"Two." I answered.

"Three!" Iggy shouted.

And then, I dropped her.

This girl was doing a lot of falling lately.

**Lai's POV**

I was falling.

Again.

This Flock had butter arms, was I right?

But I did as they said – it was an instinct almost. I'd realized they did it on purpose. I pushed my wings down, then up. I had never flown before, but suddenly, I was flying.

Soaring, actually, soaring up to meet my new friends. "Max, look!" I shouted. "I'm flying!"

They slapped me high fives – even Iggy, who for some reason, could do just about anything a sighted person could do besides _see_. I could feel the blue part of my hair sizzling – I was going to have to learn to control that – but right now, it didn't matter.

We were going to go rescue the rest of the Flock. And suddenly, I realized – I was part of it.

I wasn't a freak. I wasn't a mutant. I was a Flock member. I had a family. I had wings. And I really, really, liked my life.

**a/n: Don't worry, this isn't the end yet! And there is a sequel. Which I am hoping will be awesome. **


	12. Chapter 12

**a/n****: Maybe I should have made this more clear: It isn't over yet! In a few more chapters, then time for the sequel. ****But not now.****So….**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Claimer: I do own Lai. **

**I'm feeling very random today.**

**Gasman's POV**

We were flying a loop over Long Island. Nudge said that we should go to the beach and rest for a bit before we went to our meeting spot, the grand subway system of NYC. I knew Max wouldn't have allowed us to land here – not after what had happened last time we'd been on a beach in Long Island.

"Nudge? Can we land? I'm starving." I said.

"Me too, Gasser. I need to check the blog, too – they should be close if Fang saw our message. I want to check for replies when we land, to see if any kid has seen them, or a new post. Or, you know, a big flashing neon sign that says 'on our way'." She bit her lip to keep herself from saying anything else.

"So we can land?" I asked hopefully.

"Yea." Nudge said, folding in her wings and dive bombing. Angel and I followed her, folding in our wings as well. I thought I could hear words still tumbling from her mouth. At that moment, I really missed Iggy. He would be able to hear it better.

At the last second, the three of us snapped open our wings, landing softly in deep sand.

Nudge sat almost instantly, shrugging her backpack off of her shoulders. She unzipped it and took our her 'new' laptop. It was really shiny. She pressed the little green button and it whirred to life.

"No updates." Nudge said, typing fast. "But we've got five hundred and eighty four replies. From kids." She clicked it, and Angel and I rushed to her side.

"What do they say?" I asked.

She scrolled down until she found one that she liked.

**Name: **Follower

**Message:** OMG! Nudge, Gasman, Angel, are you guys alright? I think you should remove those tubey things, you don't know what it could be giving you! I hope that they didn't hurt you too badly. They're evil! Down with Itex and the School!

Gasman: I know you'll see iggy soon, don't worry. Awesome moves.

Angel: Max probably misses you a lot.

Nudge: I think you did a good job as the leader. Don't worry, Max will be there soon.

**End of Comments**

Angel was crying, and I placed a hand on her shoulder. I hated seeing my little sister upset.

"Nudge, what do those little marks at the end mean?" I asked pointing.

She scrunched her eyebrows together, frowning. "It means look above. But I don't see what she means…" She scrolled upwards. "Oh." She said suddenly. "Oh! Oh, Gazzy, Angel, look! I mean, of course they wouldn't just put it in a normal post! What was I thinking? Itex cold see! Look, right here!"

**Name: **Nick

**Message: **Yo, Nudge, Gasser, Angel. Glad to see you're okay. It's totally not your fault. Erasers are dumb. Chloroform? Nice moves, Gasser.

Missed you,

Nick

**End of comment**

Angel and Nudge started jumping up and down. Right below that came:

**Name: **James

**Message**: Dude! Killer moves! I _really_ wish I could have _seen_ that. You know what I mean. Gasser – don't go insane with two girls there. By the way, I figured out the riddle – not that I would say what it means. Hopefully, the Iggy dude can figure that out too.

Hasta Luego:

James

**End of Comment**

I shot up to the screen. "It's Ig!" I screamed. "They're coming for us! Only… we're not there! Come on, we've got to go!" I said, grabbing her sleeve.

"Wait." Nudge said, scrolling down. Her voice sounded upset and I looked to see what she'd meant.

**Name: **NotSoInvincible

**Message:** I am so, so, sorry, my babies. How could this happen? I never slip, never let you out of my site. You went through this alone, and that's my fault.

Delete this,

Max

**End of Comment**

Nudge took a deep breath. We were all trying to hold back tears. She clicked on the little box that said Delete this message? Yes or No?

She clicked on yes.

And then we were all crying.


	13. Chapter 13

**a/n****: I know it's been awhile. Sorry! But, we have a few more chapters of this story to go, and then I have about 6 or 7 chapters of the sequel written.**

**This chapter is ****Dedicated**** to:**

**My friend who is finally reading Maximum Ride. What chapter are you on? Yeah, that's been the normal question for the past few days. She surprised me when she said 80.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own maximum ride, any companies at ****all,**** or anything related to anything. ****Except ****lai**

**Max's POV**

"Damn it!" I shouted. I picked up another large rock and hurled it far across he field. It landed some three hundred yards away. We were perched –haha- on a ledge, a gray stone wall overlooking a field of wheat in Oklahoma. It was long deserted.

We'd stopped an hour ago – Ig had been starting to fade, Lai was exhausted, and yea, I'll admit, I was hungry. Fang hadn't cared either way – typical. But he'd pulled out his backpack as soon as we landed, handing each of us chocolate. No objections to that. He'd also pulled out his laptop – scratched slightly by Nudge's constant abuse of it.

"Blog." He'd said simply. We'd all crowded around. I'll have to admit, Fang's blog was getting a bigger response than I'd ever thought possible. So, to all you readers out there, thanks!

"I'm so _stupid!_" I shouted again, hurling another rock.

"You're not stupid." Fang said. "You didn't know."

"Exactly! I let them get away from me! And they got caught, don't you see?" I asked, pointing. "It said they did 'bad things.'"

"Max, they escaped." Iggy pointed out, sounding just a little freaked by my panicked behavior.

"But not before they were hurt! Who knows what they gave tehm! They don't even know if we're coming for them." Which we were about to do, after we'd sent the messages.

"Max, I'm sure they got the replies. Plus, its my fault."

"What?" I asked, spinning to face her. "Oh, no, baby!" I said, seeing her tears. "it's not your fault. I should have been more careful."

"but Max… if my wing wasn't hurt, if you hadn't found me, you would have been there to protect them."

"Lai, we might not have won anyway." I held Celeste to my side – the day Angel had disappeared, she'd left her bear with me. I'd held on to it. Suddenly, I realized the logic in my voice. Man, did I hate logic.

I jumped off the wall, shooting out my wings before I went _splat._ "Well, guys?" I said. "Let's go get 'em!"


	14. Chapter 14

**a/n: So, after this chapter, there are two more, and then we'll move on to the sequel, which TADA! I already have half written. I like it, but it is running a little long in my eyes. But as long as you don't mind, I don't either. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Nudge's POV**

"So, we agree." I said. "We can't go there and cry and tell Max how much her message made us sad. We just tell her it wasn't her fault, alright?"

"Got it!" Angel said. Her white wings beat in time with my own as we flew towards NYC. She edged a little closer to me.

"You _did_ take really good care of us, just like that blog reader said."

How'd she know what I was thinking? Oh, yeah. "Really? I thought I did really _bad_ because, you know, I let them hurt you, and you know, Max wouldn't have let that happen to you."

"Nudge, not even _Max_ could have stopped them. They were really strong and you did your best. We were lucky that Gazzy did that."

"Are you sure? I couldn't have done anything differently?"

"Positive, Nudge." The Gasman said. I wondered if this was how Max felt all the time. Really loved and really needed. Probably.

We could see skyscrapers looking before us, big and tall. They were amazing – last time I'd seen them was when we had went to the Institute. This time though, we were going for a different reason. A happy reason. I felt as if my heart had wings. Maybe it did.

"Let's go meet em!" Gazzy shouted, and we grasped hands and flew. Towards Max, Fang, Iggy and Lai. Towards love. Towards home.

**a/n: I know that sounds like the end, and I would have liked that to be the ending sentence, but its not, so keep reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

**a/n: And, we're back…. One more chapter after this, folks!**

**Disclaimer: Nope. No ownage of Maximum Ride.**

**Iggy's POV**

"12 o'clock." Fang said, tapping my hand. Fang and I were crouched against the wall of the subway system. It was where we'd slept just a few days ago. Max was sitting closer to the exit and Lai was sitting next to Fang.

I jumped off the ledge, landing lightly on my feet. I heard the soft thuds of Fang and Lai following, Max already at the exit.

They were here – I could hear the shuffle of footsteps. I wished with all my heart that I could see them.

But I could hear them. "Fang! Max, Iggy!" Nudge shouted. I caught simultaneously a "Max!" from Angel and an "Ig!" from Gasman. He'd missed me. A lump formed in my throat.

That was all it took before we were running towards each other.

I imagined a field of daises.

**a/n: So, that was short, sweet, and to the point. Now, just one more chapter, going to put it up today, and then I won't be on for much of the week, so you are going to have to wait for the sequel. Don't worry, it will be up though.**


	16. Chapter 16

**a/n: In the semi-distorted words of Maximum Ride: This is the end, my friends. But I promise that you will fly higher than ever before.**

**Max's Point of View**

I could see them, finally! It had only been a day, but if telt like a lifetime. Nudge's hair was in knots – maybe from the loss of her bobby pin. Gasman was pale, with bruises on his face and legs and arms. Angel, my baby girl, had a dirty tear streaked face and shunts and tubes in her arm. Nudge's arm was bruised – I assumed she'd pulled hers out.

"Max!" Angel had cried, and I'd grabbed her in my arms, scooping her up and holding her tight against my chest. Iggy and Gasman were doing that 'man-hug' thing, and Fang was giving awkward hugs.

"Max, I thought I wouldn't see you again. But I knew you were coming for us." Angel was saying, and I stroked her hair.

"Max!" Nudge said, and I let go of my grip on Angel. "Max, you were coming for us, weren't you? I told them that you guys were going to come for us, and that nothing could be more important to you than that, and even if it was, you would come anyway as soon as you could, because you'd never leave us and…." She stopped talking, taking deep breaths. I was really thankful for that one. Although, now that I thought about it, I would rather have her talking for the rest of her life than never seeing her again.

"Gasman!" Ig said, giving him a high five, perfectly met – how he did that, I would never know. "Totally cool moves! Fang told me about it!"

Gasman blushed at the praise, and we all gave him high fives.

_Max?_ Angel's voice was in my head. I'd missed her _so_ much. _I missed you too, Max. And I wanted to tell you that none of this was your fault. We didn't even try to fight them off. They just took us. They would have gotten you too._

_Angel,_ I thought with sadness, _honey, if I had been there than I could have at least tried. I failed you guys._

_But Max, you didn't! You didn't let us down – we just got out before you could try! I wished you could have seen Gasman's moves though._

_But they hurt you, Angel._

_So? They've hurt us before, and they're going to keep trying. They're never going to give up on that, because they're, like, jealous of us and stuff. They wished they had wings. These little tubes – I've had them before. Sure, we don't know what was in them and stuff, but, if they really wanted to kill us they would have done it already, and gotten it over with, while I was in the School before. _

I didn't respond, because, somewhere deep down, in the very pit of my stomach, I knew that she was right. That they would never stop trying. That no matter how long we lived – and we really had no idea how long that would be- they would always be trailing our wing-feathers, and trying to hurt us. The only way to stop them would be to get them first - to bring them down. And I knew, in my very heart and soul – bet you never expected me to say that, right? – that the only way we could bring them down was if all of the Flock was here, together – including little Lai, who I knew that we could use, somehow, if she was willing. I wouldn't force her. But I knew that she would be willing, by the way she was clinging to an uncomfortable looking Fang.

And she was right, too, that if they had really wanted to kill us, they would have already. No, they didn't want to kill us.

What they had in store was probably much worse.

_Uh, Max? I think you missed the point of my little pep talk._

I didn't answer her again…. Little mind reader freaked me out sometimes. But, she was my little girl. And I loved her with all of my heart.

_I'm not creepy. But I love you too, Max. Always will. No matter where we are, together or separate._

My heart broke inside of my chest. She'd been through so much… and now, I was sure that we were ready. We were going to take them down, Itex and the School, all of them… this was for us. For all the times that they've hurt us, and tried to beat us down.

And for all the times that we kept flying.

I looked to Fang, mouthed 'let's get 'em', half expected him to shake his head and answer with another 'not now'. But he didn't. He just nodded. He knew too, and, by God, he wanted to take them down just as much as me. He'd been through this too, after all.

"For the Flock!" I shouted. "For all the times that they've beat us down and tried to hurt us. For all the times we kept flying!"

"Up and away." Fang said calmly, and gave me one of his rare smiles.

"For the Flock!" I was met with five bird kid's shouts.

We burst out our wings, ran through the empty subway system, and out into the sky. We didn't care who would see us. Eraser or human, adult or kid, blog reader or not, they would all know about us soon. Because win or lose, we weren't going down without a fight, without making sure the whole world knew about us.

But we'd win this time. I was sure of it.

**a/n: Alright guys! There is a sequel ... called... dadada... Maximum Ride: Electric Girl 2. If you have a better title, suggest it. :) I will put it up in a bit. :) Wow, alot of smilies today, eh?**

**And as I'm done, I have another semi-distorted quote: As I leave, there is only one thing left to say. Hopefully, we'll be back.**

**And if we are, it won't be pretty.**

**Hoping to see you guys soon,**

**SignedSealedWritten **


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